


so give me tonight

by bettycooopers



Series: Barchie Week 2020 [6]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25661134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettycooopers/pseuds/bettycooopers
Summary: They (whoever they are, exactly,) say that prom night is supposed to be one of the best nights of your life.Archie Andrews would like to go on record saying that is absolute bullshit.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper
Series: Barchie Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853623
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	so give me tonight

**Author's Note:**

> barchie! week! day! six! i will admit to you my little barchie babies that my brain is mushy today -- yesterday got me good, plus, i think there's still some salt water lodged behind my eyes -- but today's prompt was "create a parallel" and, well. i love an angsty front steps moment as much as the next guy, so...here you go! also: credit where credit's due, the prom stuff is a big amalgam of every twitter theory i have read about what y'all think is going to happen at prom. so! i guess i can't say i really came up with it, but anyway. ok byeeee

They (whoever _they_ are, exactly,) say that prom night is supposed to be one of the best nights of your life.

Archie Andrews would like to go on record saying that is absolute bullshit.

Granted, he’d kind of gone ahead and blown up prom night all on his own, but still, it stood. Prom night would not go down as one of the best nights of Archie Andrews’ life – in fact, it was maybe one of the worst.

\--

She is wearing a silky pink dress that brushes the floor, her hair swept out of her face and curling down her back. It looks longer, he thinks, but maybe it’s just a trick of the light. He sees her from afar, first, and Veronica is clutching his hand and talking about how spectacular everything looks so he thinks maybe she doesn’t notice how breathless he is at the sight of Betty.

They make their way over to Betty and Jughead, then, who are chatting with Kevin – well, Betty is chatting with Kevin while Jughead stares at his phone, scrolling between texts and videos. Betty keeps nudging his shoulder and speaking close to his ear, clearly annoyed.

Archie feels a little annoyed, too. Betty’s _boyfriend_ should be spending prom with her, not with his phone.

“You look great, Betts,” he says, the smile in his voice. She smiles at him, but it’s stiff.

“Thanks, Arch. So do you,” he lets his hand graze hers when he knows no one can see. She snatches her hand away and shoots him a look, then turns her back so he can’t look at her anymore.

“Let’s dance, Archiekins,” Veronica purrs into his ear, hooking her arm around his. He finds his eyes still stuck to Betty and Jughead but leads her onto the dance floor.

It starts innocently enough. Veronica had organized a performance for him – a gift, she calls it, one last chance for him to perform for their friends at Riverdale High. She presses the lyrics he’d written for Betty against his chest and smiles up at him, “I found this,” she says, a glint in her eye. “It’s beautiful…and I want you to play it for me,” the smile on her lips is so confident, so sure, that his heart breaks a little, “in front of everyone.”

“Maybe I can just,” he says, fumbling a bit, looking for reason, “play something else. It’s not really done yet, Ronnie,” he watches as she shakes her head, pressing her index finger to his lips.

“I want to hear it,” she says, leaning up to kiss him gently. He finds Betty, standing by the exit with her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes red.

“Okay,” he says, softly, looking back down at her. He swallows. “Yeah.”

Veronica goes to check up on Betty, who is apparently not having the prom she always dreamed of because Jughead has some sort of lead on the voyeur tapes that he needs to crack _now_ , in the middle of the only prom they’ll ever have. He hadn’t understood why she refused to go with him, she hadn’t understood why he refused to stay with her. He sees Veronica loop her arm around Betty’s and pull her to the middle of the dance floor as he makes his way up to the stage. Apparently, Veronica had even organized to have his Mom drop off his guitar.

The song itself is a blur. He remembers stammering into the microphone to introduce himself, a round of applause led by Veronica, and his hands shaking as he began to play. He remembers looking out into the audience and finding Betty's eyes on him, huge and wet, terrified, her arm clutched in Veronica's. He remembers looking at Veronica as he sang, "there's no way to know but to try," and seeing an expression he can't quite place -- it's not the love and adoration he'd seen earlier, but something harder, something darker. He keeps playing, looking back at Betty and taking a small step back from the microphone when he sees she has tears rolling down her cheeks.

Betty Cooper doesn't just _cry_. Betty Cooper is composed -- she holds herself together, and to see her looking like that, _crying_ like that...at his words?

He doesn't know how he keeps playing, but he manages to get through the song, strumming the ending chords and then looking back at Veronica. She has tears in her eyes, too, but they are different tears, angry ones. She isn't holding Betty's arm anymore -- instead, both girls have their arms wrapped around themselves, staring back up at him with entirely different expressions as he mumbles a, "thanks, Riverdale," into the microphone while the gym applauds, none the wiser.

\--

Veronica slaps him, and he deserves it. 

They are standing outside the school, the air sticky and warm on their skin. Her hand leaves a stinging mark on his cheek and he wishes she would hit him harder. "Ronnie," he starts, but he doesn't know what he's going to say, so he doesn't continue.

"That was embarrassing," she bites out, "do you know how embarrassing? To see you sing...to _her_?"

"Ronnie," he starts again, but she shakes her head.

"How long?"

"How...how long what?"

"How long have you... _been_ with her?" Veronica's voice is loud and he feels like it's slapping him all over again. She looks hurt, and he knows she has every right -- but he hates the idea that she thinks he could ever do _that_ to her.

He hates the fact that he probably _would_ have done that to her, if Betty had been interested.

"I'm not _with_ her, Ronnie, I," he shakes his head. "Nothing...happened. I just," he looks down at his feet, then back up at her, "I don't know. I...after we kissed, I," he lets out a breath. "I felt something."

"So you lied to me," Veronica laughs sardonically, shaking her head, "of course, of _course_ you lied to me. You told me you didn't feel anything when you kissed her, Archie."

"I...I didn't realize," he runs a hand through his hair. He doesn't want to tell her it was after the _next_ time they kissed and make things even worse. "Veronica, I'm _sorry_."

"Don't be," Veronica holds up a hand, "I don't need you to be _sorry_." She looks at him for a long moment like she doesn't know who he is anymore. He's not sure when he changed, but he's not sure he knows exactly who he is, either. "We're done here."

"Ronnie," he feels defeated, like if he doesn't save a shred of this, what will he have? But he also isn't sure there's a shred to save -- and more, he isn't sure there's a shred he _wants_ to save.

"You know, I feel sorry for you," she says, not sounding like she really feels sorry for him. "She's never going to leave Jughead for you...you see what those two have."

"I don't," he trails off, because he doesn't want to lie to her anymore. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"Yeah," Veronica's voice is raw. "I'm sure you _really_ are."

She stalks off, phone in her hand, and he loses sight of her when she walks around the side of the school. He's about to follow her when he hears a loud sniffle behind him. He turns, and there's Betty, leaning against the doors of Riverdale High, arms still wrapped around herself, eyes still shining.

"Betty," he says, turning and walking towards the steps. Betty shakes her head and he stops. "Betty, I didn't pl-,"

"Don't, Archie," she says, her voice thick. "That was enough mortification for one night, okay?"

"Betty," he breathes, shaking his head, "she thought it was about her."

"Yeah, I got that," Betty snaps. "What exactly am I supposed to tell Jughead when someone sends him a video of you singing that _song_ , Archie? He's going to know it's not about -- he's going to know it's about," she lets out a breath, casting her eyes upwards. "Couldn't you have just played something else?"

He stares at her, his heart hammering in his chest. "She...I," he shakes his head. "I didn't think...I," he slides off his tuxedo jacket and offers it to her, "are you cold?"

" _Archie_ ," she snaps, making her way down the front steps and walking past him. He catches up to her -- she's not exactly quick in her heels -- and they walk in silence for a long few moments. When she speaks, it's biting, "It's _June._ No, I'm not cold."

"Okay," he says, his voice gentle.

"I want to go home," Betty says, her voice full.

"Okay," he repeats. He gestures in front of them. "Let's go, then."

\--

The walk home is silent and uncomfortable. It's a walk they've taken roughly ten thousand times in their lives, but this time it feels excruciatingly long. He tries to talk to her a few times, but she glares him into compliant silence by the third, " _Betty_ , come on," and he's too scared to try again.

Even so, walking with her is better than walking with anyone else. He realizes this as they turn down Cedar Street, and he looks over at her. He knows her profile better than anyone's, he thinks. He's seen it so often, from the time they were little kids, and even now it calms him down just to be standing next to her, walking in silence towards their houses.

Instead of talking, he brushes his hand against hers. She snatches it away, the same as in the gym, but lets it fall quickly and he brushes his fingers against it again. This time, she lets him.

By the time they turn on Elm, he knows what he's going to say to her. He doesn't know if it's going to come out the way he hears it in his head, but he knows they can't end this night saying _nothing_ , and he knows he can't just leave it like this. He can't just apologize for something he isn't sure he's even sorry for. He knows how he feels about her, he knows he _feels_ for her, period. That should be enough of a leg to stand on, he thinks.

After all, she is his best friend. He hopes she cares enough to at least listen to what he has to say. 

She goes to storm up the front steps of her house, but he catches her arm and she whips her head around to glare at him. She seems taken aback by him -- he thinks maybe his eyes are soft, or something, judging by the ways her soften. He feels them sting. 

"I made a mistake," he says, his voice low. She shakes her arm out of his grip and looks up at him, crossing her arms. She nods, raising her brow. Her eyes are wet. "Three years ago, Betty, I stood here...and I made a mistake. You asked me if I loved you, and I...I made a mistake."

"Archie," her voice is full, and he shakes his head.

"No, let me...let me say this, okay? I made a mistake -- because _of course_ I love you, Betty. Of course I loved you then, and of course I love you now." He watches her let out a slow breath and he reaches out, finding her hands and taking them into his own. "And I stood here and I told you that I would never be good enough for you...and a bunch of other excuses, because I...I didn't get that loving you," he looks down at their hands, "that loving you wasn't going to go anywhere, and that it wasn't going to...just _stop_ one day. I thought that not giving you the answer you wanted would protect you...and all it did was hurt us both."

She's crying now, but that's okay because he's crying, too. He doesn't know if she can tell he's crying, because it's not really obvious -- he knows his eyes are wet, but he doesn't think tears have dripped down his cheeks, or anything. He sucks in a breath at the way she stares at him, her eyes huge, her tears running down her cheeks. He would brush them off if he wasn't holding her hands. "I don't know what...we're supposed to do, here, Betts. I don't know what the answer is, but I know that I love you. I know that I _have_ loved you, and I know that I'm sorry...that it came to this, but I'm not sorry that I love you. I can't be sorry for that."

"Archie," she breathes, looking down. He takes a step closer to her, squeezing her hands.

"We can figure it out, Betty. We can figure _all_ of it out. I'm asking you now, right now, to do this with me -- you just have to trust me, okay?" He feels desperate, her words from years back ringing in his ears. "I know it's going to _hurt_ , but...," he shuts his eyes, "it's you and me. It's _us_. We can't...we can't just ignore this."

"Archie," she says again, her voice firm. He opens his eyes. He feels all the breath leave his body at the look on her face. "Of course I love you," she says, her voice wobbling. She shakes her head gently, somehow managing to tear her hands from his as she says, "but I can't give you the answer you want."

He stares at her, even though his brain is screaming for him to look _anywhere_ else. " _Why_?" He breathes, his voice thick, wet. He feels himself choking on his breath and he knows she's watching him. 

"I just can't," she says, her voice raw. "I can't, Archie...and that needs to be enough for you."

He stares at her for a long moment, looking away, his eyes burning. He nods, gently.

"None of this is fair," he speaks softly. She's halfway up the front steps. "I shouldn't have to lose you, Betts."

Betty turns, looking down at him. She gives him a sad smile, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulder.

He watches her, a pink dress disappearing behind the red door, and waits until he hears the lock click before he turns to head home.

**Author's Note:**

> you can follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cherhasthoughts) or [tumblr](https://bettycooopers.tumblr.com) if you feel like watching me break down in real time!


End file.
